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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457195">Baiting the Fish</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsandInk/pseuds/DragonsandInk'>DragonsandInk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Boat, Purple, Self-Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:35:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,355</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457195</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsandInk/pseuds/DragonsandInk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassandra and her father have been traveling away from Corona for months now and are starting to settle into a new life.</p>
<p>Their new friends need a little help but does Cassandra feel brave enough to offer her help while still healing?</p>
<p>Honestly, this was written within twenty-four hours but I had fun with it!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Baiting the Fish</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was legitimately written and edited within a few hours, so the quality isn't as great as what I usually strive for. But I had fun and I actually tried to translate things properly so hopefully it's a fun read!</p>
<p>This was also written for the Day of Hearts prompts from the Tangled Discord. My prompts were randomized and ended up being Self-Love, Purple, Boat, and Adventure. And I'm awful at writing Cassandra so I thought it might be good practice.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once upon a time, Cassandra spent the Day of Hearts locked in the armory polishing weapons and laughing at couples making grand romantic gestures for one another. But a lot had happened since those thoughtless days. She didn’t feel right jeering at others loving one another or hiding when someone might be looking for her.</p>
<p>Her feet crunched on rusty sand as she flicked the hood of her cape up. Not far, lit by the first rays of the sun stood the smooth walls guarding the city of sand; their hazy red color blended into the umber sand around them. Just over the ridge, she could make out the flat tops of the tallest buildings.</p>
<p>For months, Cassandra and her father had been acting as hired guards for a caravan traveling through the southern deserts. Her father had been worried about traveling in an area they didn’t know the language of but Cassandra had reveled at the idea of seeing a sun on a horizon that didn’t remind her of Corona.</p>
<p>If anything, the sun had been the hardest thing to get used to, eventually forcing her to tuck her heavy armor away after dehydration kept knocking her off her camel. Long rides in the mornings and evenings, midday siestas hiding from the scorching sun where they traded stories back and forth in hastily built tents. And the bond within a group gained from passing around a canteen of water before reaching the next oasis.</p>
<p>Now, when she saw Corona’s insignia, Cassandra laughed. What right did the Coronans have to use the sun as their symbol when their lives weren’t ruled by its daily temperament?</p>
<p>Cassandra stepped up to the gates, the carved, red stone depicting a troop of merchants, withering in the desert, as they discovered the oasis the city had been built upon. In the middle of the door was a lake which the figures flocked toward, and taking up the majority of the façade was a great fish, curved gracefully as if jumping out of the water.</p>
<p>Several guards tramped about, lethargically settling into their positions and opening the doors as visitors trickled into line. Cassandra obediently fell into step with various other traders and outsiders to wait her turn</p>
<p>Their caravan remained outside the city with the other traders during the nights, by a nearby crag that shaded their camp during the day. Her father had tried insisting that they stay within the walls where it was safer from sand bandits and wild animals, but their employers insisted setting up outside.</p>
<p>On the one hand, Cassandra could lay out on the dunes and fill her eyes with stars in the evening, letting the earth completely fall away as the heat leeched out of the air.</p>
<p>But, on the other hand, scorpions.</p>
<p>Cassandra stepped forward as her turn came. Ashaad noticed her and stepped forward with a smile.</p>
<p>“Sabaho, sulbā muharabah,” he said, waving off the other guard who attempted to join him.</p>
<p>“Sabaho, ustadah,” she greeted back, her pronunciation making someone behind her snicker. She buried the scowl that wanted to bubble up and tried again. “Ustadh.”</p>
<p>Ashaad nodded in approval before switching to her language. He couldn’t hold up long conversations, but they could at least communicate easier. “You here to buy entrance for caravan?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” she answered, smothering the bite from messing up her greeting. Her fingers tugged out the coins necessary for her group to pass through later without waiting in line.</p>
<p>“Plans for today?” Ashaad asked, counting the coins quickly and without scrutiny.</p>
<p>The Day of Hearts bobbed back into her mind. They clearly didn’t celebrate it here, but maybe she could do something with her father to reminisce about their homeland a bit. She shrugged. “Not really.”</p>
<p>He nodded sagely, adding the coins to a leather bag at his side. “Mahid talks to you at Habiba’s. About alsamak almuqadas.”</p>
<p>Cassandra raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the image of the fish on the gate, carved in half with the gate was open. The sacred fish that lived in the town’s oasis was a serious matter, but it would have to wait until her troop arrived. She wouldn’t abandon her duties to chat with a friend.</p>
<p>“Šukran,” she said with a nod and hurried into the city.</p>
<p>The streets awoke around her as she passed through. People milled about, wiping the sand from their eyes and shaking out limbs stiff from sleep. Some folks nodded at her politely and she nodded back. Even without being able to talk to these people, they made her feel welcome in small ways.</p>
<p>Brightly colored cloths hung down over doorways and from awnings, the shining blues, greens, and purples juxtaposing the red and gold stone of the buildings. Tapestries and carpets hung outside homes, depicting family histories or landscapes, brightening her path to the market. A squeak drew her attention up and she could see the eyes of children watching her from behind a curtain, pointing and waving when they’d been caught.</p>
<p>She waved back and they ducked out of sight, giggling all the while. That was one thing she’d noticed early on in her travels. No matter how much the tradition, language, or scenery differed in a new place, the children still acted the same no matter where she went.</p>
<p>The market was a flurry of activity this early in the morning. Empty booths sat squat and bare between others that had already been claimed for the day, where their owners rapidly set out their wares for the day. Cassandra quickly picked out a good one on the main street, claiming it by throwing her cape over the front counter. That finished, she leaned up against stall, watching dazedly as other vendors hurried to set out their wares when a voice caught her attention.</p>
<p>The woman at the stall next to her waved and called to her, using the nickname the town seemed to exclusively know her by. She said something that Cassandra couldn’t follow and gestured to her wares.</p>
<p>“Oh, uh,” Cass started, trying to remember how to decline politely when she saw what they were selling. Warm, bready treats laid out on soft cloth, still warm enough to see little curls of steam raising from the crusts. The smell of spices, nuts, and dried fruit made her mouth water. Normally the troop would bring something for her to eat when they arrived at the stall, but she had the money to treat herself a bit.</p>
<p>After some consideration and a bit more goading from the woman, she pointed to one of the rolls that had nuts and some kind of filling practically spilling out of the ends and asked how much it was for two.</p>
<p>The woman laughed, pushed the rolls into her hands and patted her shoulder kindly before returning to her sons, who were still laying out the rest of their food. A bit stunned at the random kindness, Cassandra fumbled to set down the food and help the family unpack.</p>
<p>By the time they were done, Cassandra’s father and their troop had arrived.</p>
<p>“Good pick,” Hadiya said to her with a wink before starting to bark directions at the others to set up.</p>
<p>“Do you need breakfast?” her father asked, reaching into a bag where they kept some dried meat and bread for quick meals.</p>
<p>“Do you?” Cassandra asked back with a smirk, sweeping up one of the buns and holding it out to him.</p>
<p>His mustache twitched with a smile as he took it carefully. “What brought this on?”</p>
<p>She shrugged, picking at a raisin in the crust before popping it in her mouth. “Happy Day of Hearts, I guess.” The spices of the bun warped and tingled on her tongue as she chewed. Cassandra wasn’t sure she could go back to the food of Corona after all the rich meals she’d had here.</p>
<p>Her father made sounds of approval as he bit into his own breakfast. “Are you staying at the stall today or do you have plans to celebrate? Nurul was talking about sparring with you again later.”</p>
<p>Sparring did sound fun. And Nurul wasn’t all that bad with a sword. He hadn’t managed to beat her in a one-on-one and probably wouldn’t for a while, but he knew as much about the word defeat as she did.</p>
<p>“Mahid wants to talk to me about the fish,” she said slowly.</p>
<p>“The fish? What for?”</p>
<p>“Don’t know. That’s what I’m going to find out though,” she said, popping the rest of her breakfast into her mouth to chew quickly.</p>
<p>He chuckled. “Well, have fun then. Let me know if you need anything.”</p>
<p>“Got it, wajah tifl,” she teased. He swatted at her and she laughed, sweeping her cape back over her shoulders and head before hurrying away.</p>
<p>Habiba’s was an open bar a few streets over from the market where she sold some kind of alcoholic drink that was crisper than the stuff the pub thugs in Corona drank and could be spiced in a hundred different ways. Cassandra could never get the translation quite right, but her father had called it cactus juice before passing out when he underestimated the drink.</p>
<p>“Sulbā muharabah!”</p>
<p>Her head turned in the direction of her nickname and smiled at Mahid, who sat at a table near the edge of the awning. Mahid was a bit of an enigma in the town. Respected, even though he didn’t act like it. His turban was always a little askew and his pants were always rolled up to his thighs as if he spent too much time wading in the oasis to bother unrolling them whenever he got out. It would be scandalous for just about anyone else, but Mahid got away with it with a cock-sure grin and a friendly pat on the shoulder.</p>
<p>Mahid also knew several languages fluently so Cassandra had made fast friends with him when they’d arrived in town.</p>
<p>“Kif Halak, akhy?” she greeted warmly as she sat across from him.</p>
<p>He pushed a mug of water to her side. “Awful! Better now that you’re here though! Ah, let me get straight to the point then! My man, Kahlid, can’t help me with the fish today. Are you up to filling in for him?”</p>
<p>That made her sit up straight. “Seriously? Why me?”</p>
<p>He grinned, his white teeth shining brightly between dark lips. “Why not you? You are the sulbā muharabah after all.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she said, mind already racing with the implications and how people could get upset with this. “It’s a traditional thing, right? And I’m an outsider. People wouldn’t be happy about it.”</p>
<p>Mahid just laughed. “They put me in charge of it so what I say goes! And I say that if you’re up for it that I want you on my boat today.”</p>
<p>Cassandra bit her lip. This was a big responsibility. Not like protecting the caravan or making sure they got a good booth in the morning. The people of the city believed the fish to have sacred powers that protected the land. If she messed this up then a lot of people would be mad at her. She might even get run out of the city again.</p>
<p>A hand settled on her shoulder, heavy and warm. Mahid’s eyes were kind as he smiled at her. “I thought of you first because I know you are responsible and strong. But if you don’t think you can do it, then I can ask Amil instead.”</p>
<p>“I can do it,” she said reflexively, a part of her recognizing his tentative welcome as a challenge. After a pause, she nodded. “I will do it.”</p>
<p>He grinned. “Great! Then come with me, we need to start fishing immediately!”</p>
<p>Cassandra followed him to his feet and down the streets, easily keeping stride with his shorter legs. “Right now?”</p>
<p>“Absolutely! Sometimes it can take all day to bait the fish up to the surface!”</p>
<p>If the city was a golden crown then the oasis was a perfectly cut sapphire set in the center. The surface of the water glittered in the morning sun and the heavy trees clustered around the shores swayed gently in the breeze. People gathered at the edges with pots to fill with water while camels drank from the banks further down. Cassandra’s shoes followed a path of beaten grass to the dock where only a few boats were docked. Unlike the huge vessels that would moor at Corona, these boats were needed only to pass across the lake to the stone temple at the other side. The biggest boat was only twice as big as a rowboat, but had an awning of blue, green, and purple over half of it so its sailors wouldn’t bake in the sun.</p>
<p>Two children were already sitting in the large boat, one end of a rope in each of their hands as they practiced making knots.</p>
<p>Mahid jumped into the boat, making it rock and nearly sending the children overboard with high-pitched squeals. He laughed as the two pounced on him in revenge and they fought one another off as Cassandra gracefully hopped in after them, checking the vessel for anything special. The only things in there, aside from the occupants and some necessary equipment, were a large net, a sealed pot, and a basket.</p>
<p>“Fatima, Hakim, this is Cassandra. She’ll be fishing with us today.”</p>
<p>The children greeted her shyly and Cassandra smiled back. “Nice to meet you. Are you helping us today?”</p>
<p>Mahid translated without giving either side pause to consider the language barrier awkward. The kids, hardly tall enough to pass Cassandra’s waist, took up the oars without instruction, swiftly carrying them to the center of the lake while they chattered aimlessly towards Cassandra. Mahid only managed to translate about half of the story they told her of the pot of honied milk that had gone missing the day before and how they’d tracked down their thieving neighbor to recover it.</p>
<p>When they reached the center of the lake, Mahid quieted the children, who drew in the oars and retreated to the back of the boat. Mahid took the lid off the sealed pot and a sweet, floral aroma wafted out, almost cloying her other senses. A chant was started up, low and precise as Mahid sprinkled pink oil and petals across the top of the water to either float or sink there.</p>
<p>A tug at her sleeve peeled Cassandra’s eyes away from the ritual where Hakim chatted to her, likely explaining what was happening though she couldn’t understand him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, kid, I don’t know what you’re saying,” she told him bluntly.</p>
<p>He grinned and talked faster.</p>
<p>Mahid laughed. “It’s bait, for the fish,” he said as he settled back onto a pillow beneath the shade. “And now we wait for it to come up for a snack.”</p>
<p>“That works?” Cassandra asked skeptically.</p>
<p>“Every day,” Mahid answered.</p>
<p>“And how long will it take for the fish to show up?” she asked, dreading the answer.</p>
<p>He shrugged and chuckled at her grimace. “I always see you working, ukhti. Take this time to relax a bit.”</p>
<p>Cassandra didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘relax’ anymore. But, as they took shelter from the sun under the awning and the children showed her how to make the knots they knew, she found the tightness in her shoulders slowly unwinding. Mahid joked with her and told her about life at the temple, where they tended to visitors and the structure. The children pulled out little strings and rocks from their pockets and showed her them one at a time. She would pick each one up gently and hum in approval until the kids giggled and went back to talking her ear off. Eventually the basket was opened and they enjoyed lunch on the lake, watching people walk around on the shores attending to various daily chores. Mahid performed the ritual two more times.</p>
<p>Then the three of her compatriots perked up at a small splash. With a flurry of movement, they had thrown out the net and a rope was handed to her. Growing up in Corona, she knew the basics of net fishing, still Mahid gave her rapid instructions of when to draw in the line and warning her not to underestimate the strength of a fish. The children dipped their fingers in the pot and sprinkled more oil on the top of the water to draw the fish closer, careful not to touch the petals.</p>
<p>When the fish broke the surface, Cassandra felt her jaw drop.</p>
<p>“That’s a big fish,” she said, hands going slack on the line for only an instant.</p>
<p>It was easily half the size of their boat, longer if she counted the transparent fins trailing behind it. Bright violet scales, mottled with lapis lazuli blue shone like gemstones as it broke the surface to gobble up the flower petals just outside the range of their net. They were supposed to catch that behemoth?</p>
<p>“We just need it close enough to the boat to touch,” Mahid said to her, though his eyes never left the surface of the water.</p>
<p>Cassandra’s grip tightened on the rope. She wasn’t going to let everyone down. Not this time.</p>
<p>When the fish came back around, it slid right into the net, which they quickly pulled taut to pin it against the side of the boat. Mahid twisted the rope around one arm and reached into his vest with his other hand, pulling out pliers from an inner pocket.</p>
<p>The fish thrashed as he leaned forward, knocking the boat around and causing Cassandra to briefly loose her footing. With the net loosened, the tail whipped up and slapped Mahid in the face with enough force to toss him back into the boat, pulling the net along with him. And, of course, the fish.</p>
<p>Fatima and Hakim squealed, saving the pot of flowers before it could be knocked over and retreating to the back of the boat. Mahid was pinned under the fish and struggling to get untangled from the net, leaving only Cassandra free to do something.</p>
<p>Instinct kicked in and she whipped out her knife, swiftly cutting the line that kept the fish trapped beneath the net. Now flopping freely, the boat rocked dangerously, water sloshing in from the sides. Tossing her knife aside, Cassandra wrestled with the fish to get it off of Mahid, summoning every ounce of strength and balance she had to push it back into the water. It flopped madly, but she was far more determined to get what she wanted.</p>
<p>Finally, she got it over the edge of the boat, nearly falling in herself while she was at it. But the fish swam away and they hadn’t capsized so that was a win in her book.</p>
<p>She checked on Mahid, who was soaking wet at the bottom of the boat and laughing like he hadn’t almost been crushed by a sacred fish.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized, hurrying to help him up with a wince. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”</p>
<p>He patted her on the shoulder, still laughing, and showed her the pliers in his other hand, which had a single, purple scale clenched in them. “That was the most exciting fishing trip I’ve had in years!” he said. “You must come with us again tomorrow!”</p>
<p>Stunned, Cassandra stuttered, “I don’t know, I mean I messed up and—”</p>
<p>“Ukhti!”</p>
<p>The kids dashed over to her as fast as they could in a half-sunk boat. They tugged on her shirt excitedly and pointed out to where the fish had disappeared, blabbing faster than ever before out of mouths grinning with excitement. Cassandra couldn’t understand anything they said, but the awe and respect in their eyes needed no translation.</p>
<p>Cassandra felt her eyes well up as Mahid carefully tucked away the scale into his shirt and watched her with knowing eyes.</p>
<p>As the kids eventually calmed down and started bailing the boat, she found it in her to nod at him. “Yeah, I don’t mind helping out again tomorrow.”</p>
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